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Whitman Clears Schedule Before Tossing Her Hat?

By Anahad O'Connor January 6, 2009 5:26 pmJanuary 6, 2009 5:26 pm

The line of contenders for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s job seems to be growing by the day.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for Meg Whitman, the former chief executive of eBay Inc., announced that Ms. Whitman had cleared some room in her schedule and resigned from the boards of three corporations: eBay, Proctor & Gamble and DreamWorks SKG. Ms. Whitman, a Republican, has long been rumored to have some interest in pursuing the governorship in 2010, and her resignations, which went into effect on Wednesday, only furthered that speculation.
Several published reports cited people close to Ms. Whitman as saying she planned to announce her intentions to run in the next four to six weeks, but her spokesman, Henry Gomez, would not confirm it. He told The Los Angeles Times that she “has said before and it’s been widely reported that she is considering a run,” but would not comment any further.

In a statement to the Associated Press, eBay’s president and chief executive, John Donahoe, gave her a laudatory sendoff.

“Meg’s vision and leadership and her passion for the eBay community have helped create economic opportunity for millions of people worldwide and enabled us to build a dynamic portfolio of leading online businesses,” he said. “Her experience and insights will be missed, but Meg will always be a part of the eBay family, and we wish her the very best.”

Ms. Whitman, a 52-year-old billionaire who retired from EBay in March after a decade with the company, is widely considered a front-runner for the governorship. But if she did run, she would join an already crowded field. On the Republican side, at least two other candidates are said to be in the running, including Steve Poizner, the state insurance commissioner, and Tom Campbell, a former California congressman.

Whoever becomes the Republican nominee would face stern competition from the other side of the ring. At the top of the list of potential Democratic contenders is Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has widespread name recognition in California. Other possible Democratic candidates are Jerry Brown, the highly visible governor in the 70’s and early 80’s who is now the state attorney general, and two mayors: Gavin Newsom of San Francisco and Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles.

As it stands now, because of term limits, Gov. Schwarzenegger will not be running in 2010 — unless of course he takes a cue from a friend and fellow political moderate on the East Coast, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and seeks to change the term rules.

Gavin Newsom of San Francisco was a prominent supporter of gay marriage in California and stabbed his campaign manager and former deputy chief of staff, Alex Tourk, in the back by having a sexual affair with Tourk’s wife three years ago. Meanwhile, Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles was also caught cheating on his wife. It’s not a pretty sight to see Democratic party values on display.

Any GOP candidate will have to be moderate with experience in the business world to even have a shot at winning. DiFi is a great senator, hopefully she’ll continue to serve California in the way she sees best. Of course, Arnie could run another special election to give him the right to run again!

The new robot Donahoe’s farewell speech – makes me cough – look for unofficial (youtube) footage of eBay Live 2008 – not a happy party – apparently hardly anyone showed up and those who did (besides the new hopeful kids on the eBay chopping block) were not happy.

And their constant questions and complaints – of eBay policy – turned the event into one long protest.

[One guy openly chided the eBay Live – crew – telling them that they have destroyed – so many businesses that no sellers were left]

So bad was the attendance and atmosphere – that eBay has cancelled the eBay Live for 2009 – which will appear again in 2010 as a series of smaller events. Better to B* a smaller group then a larger one – perhaps?

Meg Whitman will have a lot of opposition – she made her billions while indiscriminately gouging the small seller [ even marketing experts couldn’t turn a profit on eBay because of pricing structure! ]

– And now she wants to go on her Mary Poppin’s way into politics.

Likely, slinging her unscrupulous hook – towards the Presidency – No Way, No How, No Whitman!

Whitman used to refer to eBay seller complaints as noise – a snapshot of how she might consider the concerns of the electorate.

If you happened to be lucky enough to be present when Meg threw her hat in the ring, you would realize that “A New California” could easily be “A New America” one day.

This classy lady has what it takes to turn our State around. Not only does she “get it”, but she has consistently demonstrated the strength to set audacious goals and accomplish them. As speaker after speaker commented, she has the backbone to make them actually happen. As Wilson said in introducing her, she is not about “hope”, just true change. She’s got my vote.

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